Climate pushers or symbolic leaders? The limits to corporate climate leadership by food retailers

ABSTRACT

Corporate climate leadership and its relationship with state regulations are discussed. First, a typology defining corporate climate leadership is introduced and distinguished from the other strategic behaviours corporations may adopt in response to climate change. A conceptual framework to explore the mechanisms enabling corporate climate leadership within a given policy system is then presented. This framework is applied to two big Swiss food retailers, considered as typical of corporate climate leaders, firms that showed an early interest in climate protection, as a result of ecological values, third actors’ lobbying and particular market incentives. Most importantly, the two companies were set in motion by a regulatory framework that featured stringent policy goals associated with flexible instruments and economic sanctions. The importance of these findings for understanding the role of corporate leadership in polycentric climate governance is discussed.     

Voluntary instruments for ambitious objectives? The experience of the EU Covenant of Mayors

ABSTRACT

Over the last decade, innovative governance architectures have been progressively promoted across European Union (EU) environmental and climate policies with the purpose of improving the effectiveness of intervention through better cross-sectoral policy integration and increased involvement of sub-state and non-governmental actors in the policy process. By combining the theoretical insights of polycentric governance and the concept of usage, the case of the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) is analysed to uncover the extent to which this voluntary programme has empowered local authorities within the EU strategy for sustainable energy by encouraging coordination and learning. This illustrates how a range of policy variables determined the dynamics of the programme’s implementation in Italy and the United Kingdom.     

应对气候变化治理模式国别比较分析

应对气候变化是全球各国共同面临的严峻挑战,而不同国家由于其自身发展阶段、治理水平等存在差异,气候治理模式也呈现不同特征。本文系统梳理了英国、德国、法国、美国、欧盟、日本、韩国、印度、巴西、南非等全球主要经济体和排放体的气候政策体系与机构设置情况,将其气候治理模式分为五类：政策引领型、法律缺失型、整体完备型、部分行业先行型和政策协调双缺失型,并从政治体制和党派态度、资源禀赋和强势部门、战略定位与气候叙事、公众态度与国际事件四个维度进行了影响因素的分析。建议我国未来可在加快推进气候立法、充分发挥制度优势、形成中国特色治理方案、推动建立公平合理互利共赢国际治理体系、落实完善“1+N”政策体系等方面加强工作部署,提升应对气候变化治理水平,促进“双碳”目标尽早实现。     

科学精准理解《“十三五”生态环境保护规划》的关键词和新提法

《\"十三五\"生态环境保护规划》是第九个五年环境保护规划,规划的编制面临新形势新要求,承载了大量新内容和新任务,在规划的理念、战略、领域、任务、支撑等方面都有显著的拓展与深化。本文通过对规划进行系统梳理,提炼出10个方面的关键词和新提法并逐一解读,以便于读者对规划深入理解和精准把握。     

水权市场研究述评与中国特色水权市场研究展望

水权水市场改革是我国水资源管理改革的重要内容,也是当前我国资源环境研究领域的热点之一。我国水权市场尚未发育完成,水权交易还未成体系,更缺乏水权交易的制度体系和技术支撑。国内外的研究表明,有效运作的水权市场,需要具备产权明晰、计量监测技术支撑、监管制度完善等多方面的条件,同时也会受到交易成本、第三方效应、社会文化等多方面的影响;从已有的水权交易模型来看,国内学者基本上是沿用了西方发展起来的水权交易模型,很少考虑中国国情因素。总体来看,国内水权水市场研究目前存在三个方面的主要缺陷。第一,在水权市场发展的规律研究方面,过于强调市场的作用和市场制度本身,对水权市场运作的内在机制认识不足;第二,在水权市场的国际经验借鉴方面,过于强调个别国家的"先进经验",对水权市场发展的教训和伴随的问题认识不足;第三,在水权交易和市场制度建设过程中,过于强调理想意义上的自由市场模式,对国情条件的制约和中国特色的因素认识不足。当前亟需开展更为深入的研究,系统探索中国国情因素对水权市场构建的影响,重点揭示中国特色的水权市场制度体系特征,提出中国情境下的水权交易模式、交易规则、水权监管制度以及与国情条件相适应的水价政策。通过理论集成和知识创新,增进对中国特色水权市场制度的理解,为水资源管理体制改革和水资源的可持续利用提供研究支撑。     

Internal communication a prerequisite for risk governance: hazard zone planning in South Tyrol,Italy

Mountain risk management is currently facing a scientifically driven, normative paradigm change towards risk governance, where communication and participation take on key roles. On the local level, hazard zone planning is a risk management tool to balance land-use developments and hazard processes, such as debris flows, avalanches, rock fall, mass movements or flooding. In this contribution, communication among stakeholders professionally involved in hazard zone planning (internal communication) is analysed by participant observation. Here, the quality of internal communication is seen both as an indicator and as a prerequisite for transition processes from risk management to risk governance. This case study of communication in hazard zone planning in the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol points out pitfalls and challenges in an advanced, spatial planning scheme. Based on the concept of social learning, it is argued that the transition towards governance of mountain risks requires fundamental changes in the underlying normative models, objectives, organizational understandings, structures and qualifications of the administrative bodies. Proposals for change are provided.     

The risks of risk-based regulation: insights from the environmental policy domain

Risk-based regulation has become increasingly popular in recent years. Proponents argue that it facilitates robust governance, contributing to efficient and effective use of regulatory resources and delivering interventions in proportion to risk. Critics contend that the challenges of operationalising risk-based governance mitigate its potential benefits. In this paper we start by considering what we mean by risk-based governance and discuss some of the factors shaping the adoption of such strategies. We then consider the development and operation of risk-based approaches in the environmental policy domain, focusing specifically on the regulation of contaminated land and radioactive waste. We argue that whilst risk-based approaches can offer important benefits, they face a range of epistemic, institutional and normative challenges that can play an important role in shaping the way that organisations manage both risks to society and their own institutional risks. This has profound implications for achieving regulatory objectives and, for this paper, the environmental outcomes that the regulations are designed to deliver.     

农村水环境治理行动的演化博弈分析

新常态下,我国环境承载力已经达到或接近上限,农村水环境也存在着"边治理、边污染"和地方政府监管乏力问题,究其根源是缺乏农村水环境治理的内生机制,在中央政府投入大量精力、财力的同时,其他利益相关主体却存在不同利益诉求和行为导向冲突,因而厘清农村水环境治理行动中的主体博弈关系有助于突破此现实困境,形成良好的行动机制。本文利用演化博弈模型,分析了地方政府、企业和农户三方博弈主体在农村水环境治理行动中的演化过程。研究结果表明,系统演化具有多重复杂情景,在良好的演化情景下,只要农户参与治理的意愿高,地方政府最终将趋向于引导行动,企业也相应选择净化策略,三方实现共同治理,农村水环境质量将得到显著改善;相反地,在不良演化情景下,即使农户愿意参与治理、或企业愿意采取净化策略,都无法得到地方政府的支持和系统中其他主体的响应,系统将锁定于不良状态,最终造成农村水环境治理的"公地悲剧";在一般情景下,通过调节各方策略的参数值,发现只要地方政府和企业联合起来致力于通过一系列引导和扶持策略保障农户从参与农村水环境治理中获得切实利益,可使系统跳出不良状态,形成三方共同治理的良好局面。实例分析结果进一步验证了只要政府和企业联合行动以切实保障农户的利益,就有利于促进农村水环境质量提升。据此提出促进三方共同参与、保障农户利益的农村水环境治理行动对策建议。